Rod Stewart

Axl Rose wasn't the only musician who didn't show up to perform Saturday at the 27th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, but it was illness that kept Rod Stewart from reuniting with the Faces and Adam Yauch from joining with the Beastie Boys. Rose's boycott of the 51/2-hour event generated the most sparks, however, because of his very public shunning of the ceremony and his decision not to join with his former bandmates as they became members of the Hall of Fame, which also inducted singer-songwriters Donovan and Laura Nyro and both incarnations of the British rock group the Small Faces and Faces.

"Tonight's the Night," a new musical featuring nearly two dozen Rod Stewart hits, will open this fall on London's West End. The 57-year-old rocker was on hand at a London news conference Tuesday, clapping along as Tim Howard, Diane Pilkington, Hannah Waddingham and Mike KcKell, the stars of the musical, ran through "Tonight's the Night," "Sailing" and "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy."

Charges of driving under the influence of alcohol will not be filed against rock star Rod Stewart, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said Wednesday. Stewart, who was stopped May 12 by California Highway Patrol officers on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, was found to have a blood alcohol level of .07, lower than the minimum legal standard of .10 for charging someone with driving under the influence, according to the prosecutor's office.

Rod Stewart has his own hit song on the charts--"Lost in You." But to hear Simon Climie tell it, Stewart could've had another hit on his album, Climie and Rob Fisher's "Love Changes Everything." When Stewart passed on the song, Simon recorded it himself--and the Climie Fisher version is now zipping up the charts (though Rod did cut another Climie tune, "My Heart Can't Tell You No," which Robert Palmer sent his way).

Rod Stewart, who has spent recent years devoting himself to American standards, will return to rock with his next album, "Still the Same "Still the Same" -- Stewart's first rock album in over eight years -- follows four volumes of his "Great American Songbook" series of standards albums. Tracks include Bob Dylan's "If Not for You," Van Morrison's "Crazy Love," Bob Seger's "Still the Same" and John Fogerty's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain."

A federal judge in Las Vegas has ordered rock star Rod Stewart to pay a casino there more than $3 million for not returning advance money he was paid before he canceled a concert in 2000. U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks ordered Stewart's lawyers to pay an additional $153,483 in contempt-of-court sanctions and legal costs for failing to turn over information to lawyers for casino giant Harrah's Entertainment before trial last year.

Rob Sheffield is the kind of true-blue music nerd who'll pause his latest memoir - one with a subtitle promising a book about "the rituals of love & karaoke" - to address the important topic of Rod Stewart. Not how much he loves Rod Stewart, exactly, nor which of Stewart's songs is the most fun to sing at karaoke. (Duh: "Love Touch. ") Rather, Sheffield's chapter on the singer, called "Hot Legs," examines in great detail Stewart's merry progression from "a rambling rock & roll rogue" to "an L.A. roué trapped in [a]